Connections
by Tiffiany-45
Summary: Emily meets new patients every single day. She makes connections and cares about them. When she meets her new patient Jax, she builds a connection with him that will change her forever. However, there is a reason doctors are supposed to distance themselves from their patients. How will Emily put herself back together when these connections start to break and fall apart?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

As we go about our lives, the day to day, we are inevitably making connections with others. They can be brief and fleeting, or they can turn into something more tangible and significant, or anything else along the spectrum. As doctors we are encouraged not to make connections, to remain as detached as possible. I've always had a little trouble with this unwritten rule. A sick and scared person is brought into my life and I am supposed to play a surly standoffish detective while seeking out the culprit that caused this turn of events? However, I've always preferred John Watson to Sherlock Holmes. Yes, Watson is a doctor, and one would say, of course you would relate more with him. But he was also the heart of the team, the one who was constantly ridiculed and misunderstood by his eccentric and apathetic friend. He played the moral compass between the two, not out of duty but from a place of deep and unwavering compassion.

Now, I will not claim to be a moral compass, I rarely know if I'm doing the right thing and I am consistently second guessing myself. But people have said that I care too much. By the way, how can you care "too much"? I mean, you either care or you don't. It's not like I'm writing love sonnets to patients or stalking them outside their hospital room. I just don't... I'm getting off track.

Connections, they happen every day, and as a doctor I make them into something tangible and significant. Because that is how I work, that is the only way I can be the best doctor I can be. This is also the reason I get into as much trouble as I do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note:** Hey everyone, this story is a little something I came up with while constantly thinking about Emily Owens in my daily life. I have a general outline of what I'm doing, but it's not fully formed yet in my head, so we'll see how it goes. I hope to finish it before the Spring episodes start.

Please review telling me what I'm doing well and what I'm not doing so well. It's been quite a while since I wrote fanfiction. I would love to get some feedback!

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, don't even have the laptop I'm typing on fully paid off yet. Therefore, I am in no way associated with Emily Owens, M.D., I have no rights to the amazing movie that is 'Better Off Dead', and I most definitely see no royalties from the comic book world.

I was late for rounds because, as fate would have it, a truck side-swiped the car right in front of mine sending it to collide into the median on the highway while I was driving to the hospital. The truck, sustaining only paint damage, proceeded to drive off while I ran to the crushed shell of the car to pull a single mother and her 5 year-old son from the wreckage. Suffice it to say, after giving first aid to the shaken family and having an extensive debrief with the police about how the wreck happened and details on the truck that fled the scene, I arrived to rounds 30 minutes late looking completely disheveled and on edge.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Wonder Woman." Doctor Bandari said sarcastically as I found a place in the semi-circle around the new patient's bed. At which point everyone in the room turned to look at me taking in my appearance and smirking at the quip. Tyra immediately began trying to get something unstuck from my hair, and Will looked mildly concerned. My gaze fell on Cassandra and she stood a little taller, looking in every way superior to me. "Now that you're finished rescuing people in your free time, you can put the same energy into your job. This will be your patient today." Dr. Bandari pointed towards the bed.

I looked over to see a guy with dirty blonde hair almost completely covered by the bandage wrapped around his head, looking uncomfortable with a half-smirk on his lips while scratching the back of his neck. When our eyes met he gave me this little shrug as if to say '_I'm sorry you are stuck with me_'. I gave him the brightest smile I could manage in the situation, and then turned back to Dr. Bandari as she continued speaking to me.

"Find someone to catch you up on his condition, and don't bother me with any stupid questions." She glared pointedly as she handed me his chart. "Don't waste any more of my time today," was the last thing she said as she walked briskly from the room followed by the interns. The only sound left was their retreating footsteps heading to the next patient on the rounds.

"Hey, hero! You look a little worse for ware." I turned to see that Micah had stayed behind. He was taking in my appearance with a silly grin on his face. "You always find yourself in the craziest situations, don't you?"

"Yeah, it seems to be a specialty of mine." I replied flatly as I glanced over my new patient's chart. His name was Jackson Kelley. 32 years-old. He was in the hospital for a sever laceration to the back of his head that required quite a few sutures and had remained for observation due to a moderate concussion he had sustained.

"Mr. Kelley here also has a specialty of getting into interesting situations." Micah explained as I looked over the chart. "He was hanging up Christmas decorations at his mother's house when the ladder he was using slipped on some ice and sent him falling head first to the ground."

I looked up from the chart to glance at my patient who was looking abashed and avoiding my gaze as his hand rested on the back of his neck again. He looked like a little boy who got caught dancing in his underwear in front of a mirror while singing at the top of his lungs.

I stifled a laugh at the mental image as I went to turn on the light so I could get a good look at his head. "Well, that doesn't sound like fun at all. How's your head feeling?" I asked while I looked over the stitches to make sure they were still intact and healing.

"It feels like there's a freight train running through my head, constantly blowing its horn." He replied while rubbing at his temple with his fingers. "This seems pretty fitting for trying to do something nice. My kind of luck." he shrugged while leaning back into the mattress, wincing a little. "I was trying to surprise my mom for the holidays by putting up decorations at her house while she was at work, but I only had half of the lights on the roof before the fateful incident." Jackson gave Micah and I a look that said '_What are you to do, this is life_' and I nodded my head, completely understanding the sentiment. "Now I get to spend my holiday in the hospital!" He sarcastically exclaimed while making a little mocking wave with his hands and fingers that looked like a pathetic cheer.

"Well, Mr. Kelley. Dr. Owens here is going to be your attending physician while you're here, and between you and me, there's no one else you'd want looking after you." Micah told Mr. Kelley while avidly ignoring my look of skepticism. "She even helps people when she's not working. This very morning on her way here she saved a mother and her young son from a car wreck." I discretely tried to wipe the smudge of grease on my cheek that wouldn't come off despite all of my ceaseless efforts during the remainder of my drive in. I started feeling extremely uncomfortable as my patient looked at me as if I was his new guardian angel.

"It's nothing. I'm sure you would have done the same, Mic... Dr. Barnes." I say trying to take the attention off of me. "I will... uh... prescribe you something for the pain, but it's... um... to be expected with the head trauma you suffered." Micah just watched me with a small smile as I turned the conversation back to the patient. I think he secretly likes watching me squirm when I'm in uncomfortable situations or feeling awkward. I turn to give him a '_quit it_' look, and I look back to the guy in the bed smiling kindly at me.

As I was about to begin explaining the tests we were going to run on him, I stopped short. With the light hitting him, Jackson Kelley was alarming cute with that school boy smile, bright kind eyes, and nervous habit of scratching the back of his neck. Fairly tall, he almost filled up the bed from top to bottom. And it was easy to see his lithe but slightly muscular physique under the thin material of his hospital gown.

"Uh... We.." I stuttered, "We will run several... uh... tests just to make sure there are no blood clots or... anything else of... concern." I stumbled through my sentence as I looked over my now cute and attractive patient. Micah was all but laughing at me behind his hand failing to hide his complete amusement. I glared at him before taking a deep breath and continuing. "We will also do some blood work just as a precaution."

I looked at Jackson Kelley and then back to Micah who were both smiling at me with their eyes sparkling, fully amused by me. I just rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Do you have any questions or is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Kelley?" I asked, hoping to sound more professional and put together, which I'm pretty sure didn't work due to the fact that my hair was still a mess, my scrubs wrinkled and on inside-out (Gosh, how did I do that? I hope no one noticed), and my lab coat hanging off one shoulder.

I adjusted my coat and stood a little taller.

"It's Jax." He replied with that little half smile. "Everyone calls me Jax." He offered his hand out to me. "It's nice to know that I have such an amazing person looking out for me, Dr. Owens." I took his hand with a comfortable smile.

"I'm also honored to have such a nice patient, Jax." I responded. "However, the next time you try to do something nice for your mother, try to avoid ladders... or falls in general." Micah snorted at the joke and shook his head.

Jax just laughed and then scrunched his face in pain. Micah looked at him in concern, "Ok, let's get you those pain-killers while the amazing Dr. Owens and I order the rest of those tests for you." Micah grabbed the chart from me to write some notes.

"I'll be back to check on you." I said as Jax rubbed his temples again with his eyes closed. He gave a slight wave as Micah and I left the room.

"Order the CT scan and blood work, and make sure to check on him every few hours." Micah ordered as we walked down the hall towards the nurses' station. "He has a pretty good concussion there."

He stopped at the desk to pick up a couple of files, and stuffed them behind Jax's chart. "That mother and son you rescued this morning are downstairs in the ER. I heard they're doing alright. The kid had a broken femur, and the mother needed some stitches and had several hematomas from the seat belt."

He started walking down the hall again, and I picked up my pace to keep up with him. "That's really great. I was pretty sure Mason had a broken leg. The poor thing couldn't stand and wouldn't stop crying." I elaborated, slightly breathless at the brisk pace. "I had to pull him out of his car seat, I hope it didn't displace the bone any more than it already was..."

"Over-thinking!" Micah said, abruptly cutting her off. "I have no doubt you were amazing and did everything perfectly." I looked away at the praise and smiled slightly. "So how does it feel to be a hero?" The smile left my face immediately and I whipped my head back to Micah. He only handed me Jax's chart to complete the orders.

"Is there anything more I should know about Jax? Did I miss anything important during the debrief?" I inquired, reviewing the chart again. "And I'm not a hero, just happened to be there and able to help."

"Hmm... I'm pretty sure Spiderman or Batman said the same thing at some point. Maybe Dr. Bandari wasn't too far off with the Wonder Woman comment." Micah made a show of looking me over and added, "Actually, if we're going to assign you a superhero alter-ego, I'd go with Supergirl. You could definitely pass as Supergirl." Micah chuckled and turned a corner, walking towards the elevators. I had to run a little to catch up because I had stopped to glare at him which, of course, he ignored completely.

When I caught back up he continued, "Mr. Kelley has slight amnesia. Doesn't remember most of what happened. What he does, he learned from the neighbor who saw what happened and called the ambulance."

"Micah, I'm begging you, don't call me Supergirl. EVER. Or Wonder Woman, or Spiderman, or Batman, or any kind of hero, super or otherwise." I interjected as he pushed the up button at the elevator and turned towards me with an amused look on his face as we waited. I just ignored it, "Amnesia, huh? That doesn't sound good. I'll try to get these results back STAT."

"Remember, if you want anything done "_STAT_" around here, bribes and stalker skills are necessary." He reminded me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I replied holding my hand out towards him.

"What?" he asked looking at my hand wearily.

"The last time I needed bribing materials you offered to finance it. 'I want my two dollars!' I said with over emphasis, quoting one of my favorite 80's movies.

"Here," he said stuffing a couple of dollars into my hand from his back pocket. "But only because I feel bad for you. That was a terrible impression." He shook his head. "You disgraced 'Better Off Dead'. Never ruin one of my favorite movies again."

I made a sound of outrage, "Like you could do any better, Dr. Barnes!" I crossed my arms, crunching up the dollars in my fist (It's going to be impossible trying to get the money into the vending machine later).

"Doctor Barnes?! Am I Doctor Barnes now?" Micah laughed indignantly. I just raised my chin in reply.

The elevator 'dinged' to mark its arrival as we stared at each other. Micah's face broke into a grin as he stepped in, leaving me in the hall.

"Fine," he said, his voice progressively took on a grandiose tone. "Go and place those orders and stalk the CT guys for the results, Supergirl. All in the name of justice for your patient!"

I started to make some sort of witty reply that would have definitely shut him up if I was given the chance. I so would have. But before I could say anything, he pointed down the hall towards the nurse's station. He raised his tone a couple of octaves and with a grainy whiny voice said, "_Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn._"

I just stared at Micah and his smug face in utter amazement as the elevator doors shut between us. His Charles De Mar impression was fairly flawless. I shook my head and smiled.

I turned towards the nurse's desk to submit the orders for Jax, as I tried to flatten out the dollars in my hand. Yeah, it was going to take many tries before the machine took these crumpled pieces of paper.


End file.
